No, he’s not going to fly into the hangar… you hope, but Greg Koontz’s airshow act keeps you wondering.

Probably you’ve seen an act like this before. A crazy-acting farmer or a supposed drunk hops into a Piper Cub or similar aircraft after the regular pilot leaves it unattended for a few minutes. The crazy guy has no flying experience but somehow proceeds to start up the airplane and to take off in the most out-of-control manner imaginable.

As he erratically careens around the sky, handling the aircraft wickedly out of control, he nearly hits the ground over and over. The entire act takes place within a couple hundred feet of a hard-as-concrete surface. To top it off? He lands on a pickup truck.

Even though it’s only an act and even if the pilot is actually a gifted aviator, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and fear that nutjob is going to whack the airplane into the ground right in front of the airshow crowd watching in fascination. [Read more…]

Q: I have obtained a 1978 Bellanca 7GCBC with a Lycoming 0-320-A2B engine manufactured in 1977. I am attempting to learn more about this engine, including why the log book contains an entry at the 1,200 hour mark showing the engine as being “on condition” but I have been unable to determine why.

OSHKOSH, Wisc. – San Antonio-based Engine Components (ECi) debuted the third in its Titan 340 Stroker series engine here on Monday. The new STC’d version follows Experimental and ASTM versions of the engine.

“The 340 fits the same weight, size and mounts as a 320,” said ECi general manager Tim Moreland. “It is a direct replacement for the 150, 160 or 180 horsepower Lycoming.”

Tempest has created a new spark plug tray constructed of high quality metal to protect spark plugs from damage.Rubber feet on the bottom of the tray help keep the tray in place on metal workbenches and tool boxes.

The tray includes numbered spark plug slots allowing for proper spark plug organization and rotation. The tray carries a $62.92 retail price and is available from Authorized Tempest Distributors.

OSHKOSH — The SR305-230E, which powers Cessna‘s new Turbo 182 NXT, will have a 2,400 time before overhaul, with no full power restrictions, company official reported at AirVenture. The engine, capable of burning Jet-A, Jet-A1, TS-1 or No. 3 fuel, will produce its full 230 horsepower up to 10,000 feet and will still produce 180 horsepower up to 20,000 feet.

Leave it up to the good folks in at San Antonio-based ECi to write a post for their website titled, “Cage Fighting for Cylinders“. In the post, ECi’s Tim Moreland acknowledges that “ECi has gotten a black eye for some cylinder failures so we went to the gym to toughen up.” Using the growing popularity of Mixed Martial Art (MMA) as the metaphor for the work ECi has put into their Titan cylinders makes for clever reading.

California Power Systems has scheduled Rotax certified training classes from Feb. 14 through the 23. CPS is conducting the classes in its new training facility at the Chino Airport (CNO) in Southern California.